Mille Lacs Area

I have always hunted around the Pine city area and wanted to try some new areas. Is there a good population south of mille lacs on some of the state land or would you venture farther north? My older PP I only let hunt for few hours of hunting before a stop her and I’ve got a young Slovakian RH I am trying to get some decent work with before south Dakota. Pics below are from opener we got 10 up and one woodcock.

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I have had luck in the area for grouse in the past. This opener we tried north and south of the lake and did not see any birds. We could have hunted harder and had an untrained GSP with so if your dogs are better it might be worth it.

I personally don’t think there are enough large tracts of timber south of Mille Lacs anymore. Certainly not on public land either, which is rare to begin with.

I would go north to the Chippewa National Forest which is about an hour and a half away. Its a very large piece of land open to public hunting. Get off the beaten path too. You will encounter more birds and less hunters.

Pine city area is great, I also go up to Markville area for grouse and do great. Lots of state land there.
We have done good n of Mille lacs but not much on the s side

Our cabin is just across the border from Markville! It’s a great area! I was looking into the Mille lacs area as it’s about the same distance from my house in se MN so I could run up and do a day hunt if I get a free weekend day.

There are birds in the Mille Lacs WMA, you will need to get off the trails and beet some bush but they are there. If you go on the weekends be prepared to have others in most of the areas though as it has become the new Carlos Avery.

Lots of tax forfeit in that area that could be a lot quieter. Just check that the county allows hunting on it.

gimruis wrote:

I personally don’t think there are enough large tracts of timber south of Mille Lacs anymore. Certainly not on public land either, which is rare to begin with.

I would go north to the Chippewa National Forest which is about an hour and a half away. Its a very large piece of land open to public hunting. Get off the beaten path too. You will encounter more birds and less hunters.

Huh? Mille lacs wma and the Rum River state forest are large tracts of forest land south of mille lacs lake. There’s also ann lake wma real close by. If you go east there’s snake river state forest and solana state forest. Solana is huge, you couldn’t hunt it all in a lifetime.
All have good numbers of birds right now, you’ll just have to avoid the people and the well used tails to find them.

I know a couple private woods near Cambridge that hold great numbers of grouse.
The farther north you go the more opportunities there is but you definitely don’t have to go farther than mille lacs and kanabec and southern aitkin counties if you don’t want to.

It’s been a while but we used to have success in the Sullivan Lake area on the SW side of Mille Lacs. Mostly hunted tax forfeit land. It’s worth a few bucks for a plat book.

Good call on the Rum River State Forest grubson.

The Solana isn’t exactly south of Mille Lacs though. It’s slightly due north east of it.

Solana starts just north of hwy 18 west of Finlayson and east of hwy65 so I’d call that east of mille lacs. Either way you look at it its not too far from mille lacs. I figured it’s worth mentioning because it’s so vast.
Anyone interested in hunting public land up there should have OnX hunt. It really makes it easy to locate the public land. The options for a grouse hunter are endless up there and only get more plentiful as you go north.

gimruis wrote:

I personally don’t think there are enough large tracts of timber south of Mille Lacs anymore. Certainly not on public land either, which is rare to begin with.

I would go north to the Chippewa National Forest which is about an hour and a half away. Its a very large piece of land open to public hunting. Get off the beaten path too. You will encounter more birds and less hunters.

hey……..stay away from my second home area!!!!!!!!

Where about is your cabin Glenn?

I used to have a decent spot south of Redwing many years ago.

suzuki wrote:

I used to have a decent spot south of Redwing many years ago.

Haven’t hunted grouse down there in years but we hear and see them while turkey hunting near Frontenac.
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Nemadji is big country. Grouse yes. Be proficient with a compass and better yet GPS. It was one of my many stomping grounds some 20+ years ago.

I was just in Nemadji last weekend. A lot of unmarked trails! Didn’t flush very many but nice to see new country! I flushed a couple close to the road and then not as much inside.

Brad Dimond wrote:

It’s worth a few bucks for a plat book.

Get the OnXHunt app on your phone its priceless. Shows you everything! Ive used it for like 5 years now and wouldnt go without it.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Get the OnXHunt app on your phone its priceless. Shows you everything! Ive used it for like 5 years now and wouldnt go without it

How much do you pay for it and are there different versions?

John Rasmussen wrote:

How much do you pay for it and are there different versions?

If i recall its $30 a year roughly and i believe there are different levels of subscription you can get. I have the base level i believe. not sure what all is included in the other levels but i just use it to see property lines and ownership. pretty handy

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brad Dimond wrote:</div>
It’s worth a few bucks for a plat book.

Get the OnXHunt app on your phone its priceless. Shows you everything! Ive used it for like 5 years now and wouldnt go without it.

I’ll check it out, will still hang on to my plat books.

I have also been using onX for several years. I pay for the Elite as I use it in several different states throughout the year. It makes it alot easier! I always download the maps off line incase there isn’t cell service so I can still have all the detail without cell service.

gunsmith89 wrote:

I always download the maps off line incase there isn’t cell service so I can still have all the detail without cell service.

If you download it does it still show you where you are on the map interactively?

John Rasmussen wrote:

If you download it does it still show you where you are on the map interactively?

Yes, but only if you have cell signal I believe because that is how it triangulates your position. The one other really cool thing Ive done with the app is you can measure distance. A few years ago my son and I were sitting and we could see a group of deer walking across the clear cut from us. I wondered how far they were from me so I pulled up the app and measured the distance to where they were standing because I had the satellite layer on and I could find exactly where they were based on that. 307 yards. Too far for a 12 year old to shoot LOL

I run onx all the time. Well worth the money. And you can set teacking measure distance figure out area size and any water ways. I use it to just plan and prep trips to areas. Mark my spots and stands I have out. And much more